The Gems Find a Cockroach
by BlueKyanite
Summary: Exactly what the title says. Set before the Beach House was built. *POSSIBLE SPOILERS*
A small two year old Steven crawled around in the sand. Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl were watching him while Greg was out of town to get house materials. This wasn't their first time watching him, just their first time alone. Amethyst, who was about the same size as him, was crawling around with him while Pearl and Garnet observed.

"How much longer until Greg will be back?" Pearl asked.

"It's been an hour. He said at least two days," Garnet responded.

Pearl groaned. "What time will he take a nap?"

"He just woke up from one,"

"The next one?"

Suddenly, Amethyst came running towards the two with Steven on her head. "Guys! Steven found something!"

"What is it, Amethyst? Nothing we haven't seen already," Pearl asked, though was relieved to find something to do.

"Steven said it was a bug!"

"We've seen bugs before, why's this one any different?"

"It's indestructible!"

They all walked over to where the bug was. It was currently next to the shard of a blue shell. It looked like a normal bug.

"Okay, try hitting it!"

"Amethyst, we promised to protect these creatures, not kill them!" Pearl exclaimed.

"Yeah, but look!"

Amethyst punched the bug, making a 6-inch crater around it. It was fine. "That's… Strange," Garnet said.

"Steven picked it up but then he dropped it. I think it bit him or something," Amethyst said.

"It hurt him? What if it's a corrupted gem?" Pearl asked.

"Gems, destroy it," Garnet exclaimed.

Pearl summoned her spear and shot a lazer at it. Nothing happened except that it was smoking now. "It didn't work!" She squawked.

Garnet summoned a gauntlet and punched the ground as hard as she could. A giant crater formed around all of them. Steven fell off of Amethyst's head and landed on the sand. He sniffled. "Guys, look!" Amethyst pointed to the still alive bug, which was scurrying away.

"Attack!"

The gems all attacked it. After five minutes it still hadn't poofed.

"What'll we do?" Amethyst asked.

"Amethyst, Pearl, try using your bow," Garnet ordered.

They both nodded. Pearl threw Amethyst into the air. She jumped up and caught her in her arms. They glowed a bright light and Opal formed. She was only slightly bigger than Garnet.

She summoned her spear and then her whip (Amethyst could only summon it when fused with someone at the time) and formed her bow. She jumped back and shot an arrow of light at the bug. It formed into five more beams and all hit the same target. That part of the beach exploded. Steven watched from a safe distance.

"Yay!" he screamed, punching the air.

Opal jumped over. The bug was running away. "It didn't work!" She told Garnet. "Defuse, we'll try something else," Garnet said.

The two unfused and ran over. "What now?" Pearl asked.

"Amethyst," She said.

Amethyst nodded. Garnet grabbed her hands and spun her. She pulled her close and the two were enveloped in another light.

Sugilite emerged, about three times the size of the van. She summoned a gauntlet and grabbed a whip out of her gem. She threw it off and the weapons merged into her flail. Pearl ran over to hold Steven while Sugilite brought the flail down onto where the bug was scurrying away. A strong wind blew from where her attack landed.

She looked down and saw the bug still there. She spun her arms together and drill-punched the ground.

They both unfused and looked down, Pearl running over. "Did it work?"

"Nothing!" Garnet said through clenched teeth.

"I know what to do," Pearl said.

Moments later Sardonyx stood, weapon already in hand. Amethyst held Steven back on her head. Sardonyx jumped into the air and spun back down. Her war hammer attached with the bug and another wind blew. Amethyst held Steven as she was blown back to a hand that'd fallen from the temple. She put Steven behind it.

"Stay here, buddy. We gotta take care of the bug," She told him before she ran back.

Sardonyx transformed her war hammer into a drill and dug through the ground where the bug was still standing. She tossed her drill into the air facing down, jumped up, and beat it down like a volley ball. It landed on the beetle directly and created a hole in the already giant crater. She unfused.

Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl all ran over to the hole. They looked down to see a bug crawling around at the bottom.

"Nothing's working!" Amethyst said, pulling a piece of her hair off. She looked at it, screamed, and threw it in the ocean.

"There's only one more thing we can try," Garnet said. She grabbed the two others' hands and jumped up into the air. She pulled them together and they grew into light.

Alexandrite stood over the crater. She looked down at the bug, angered. She opened her second mouth and breathed fire down onto it. It was still there. She summoned two bows and shot two then ten arrows. Still there. She summoned a flail and a war hammer and struck both down at the same time. Still there. She jumped into the sky and summoned one giant bow. She shot a beam down, turning into the Crystal Gems and then into one. It spiraled down critically onto the bug's back. There was a giant explosion. The hand Steven was hiding behind fell onto him, but he poked his head out through a gap in the side to watch. The entire right side of the beach fell 10 feet lower than the left when the arrow hit.

Alexandrite came back down and picked up the non-moving bug. She took off her glasses and looked at it with five eyes. It didn't move at all. She smiled.

Alexandrite looked down at baby Steven. He looked back up at her. For a second he'd looked scared, but then his expression softened as if he recognized the fusion's components.

Alexandrite moved her hand down to hold the bug to Steven. He picked it out of her hand and looked at it. Alexandrite unfused.

The gems all walked over to Steven. He was just staring at the lifeless bug.

"Steven, the bug did hurt you, but it's okay. We defeated it for you," Pearl said.

"Everything's good, dude," Amethyst added.

Garnet adjusted her shades. She suddenly gave a small gasp.

"Steven," She said. The others looked to her.

She picked him up and held him in her arms. She cradled him as he started to cry.

"Why's he crying? We killed the bug for him," Pearl asked.

She held the bug on her gem. "Rose cared for all lives on Earth. We had sworn to protect those lives. One of those lives was the one Steven's just watched us kill. Rose saw us kill one of this planet's lives through his eyes. And neither of them like what they saw," Garnet explained.

Pearl put her hand over her mouth. What had they done? Amethyst bit her lip as she looked away. They'd just broken a promise.

Steven picked the bug up in his hands. He looked at it. Garnet looked down at him. She saw something flash in his eyes.

He put his finger in his mouth, covering it in his own spit. Pearl and Amethyst looked over at what he was doing. He put the finger onto the bug.

It sparkled for a second. The gems all looked down at it. Suddenly, it twitched its antenna. It flipped itself over and started crawling around on Steven's hand. He started laughing and played with the bug. The gems all stood there, looking amazed.


End file.
